Building Your Photography Business for under $3,000

Facebook Marketing Strategies & Materials

Building Your Photography Business for under $3,000

Lesson 35 of 41

Facebook Marketing Strategies & Materials

Lesson Info

Facebook Marketing Strategies & Materials

Alright, let's talk about social media. You've all been waiting for this part. This is the fun part. We all love social media. Sometimes it takes so much of our time that it's not an effective platform and I'm gonna show you how to use it, how to optimize it to boost your business, build your followers, and drive people to become your clients. So let's talk about social media. We're gonna over which platforms are best for photography. We're gonna talk about what type of content you will create. How will you increase your following and how will you tap into your network to book sessions and drive sales? So super important information to go through. Let's start with the platform itself. So there's all different kinds of social media platforms. They are changing regularly how the algorithms work and all of that shifts pretty regularly, pretty consistently and so where should you focus your energy? And it has to do partly with how you like to interact with social media. That's one of the f...

actors, but there are two out of all of them that seem to rise above, at least right now, for photography and so Facebook is the tried and true, big, broad platform. My grandma has a Facebook account, my kid has a Facebook account, and everybody in between and so Facebook is kind of the big platform that incorporates everybody. So it's a good base to start with. Instagram is ideal because it's an image based platform, so it's almost like this one was designed for photographers, right? And so those are kind of the two, that's the meat and potatoes of social media for photographers in my opinion. Now, we've also got Pinterest. A lot of people like getting ideas from Pinterest. This can be a great place to kind of showcase your work, anything new that you're doing, get people excited. If you can get people to pin and share it, then it's a great platform. And then Snapchat depending on who your target audience is. This is for a younger audience. This is an opportunity to tell a story, so if you're doing high school seniors, things like this, this could be your platform. So the two that we use in our business are Facebook and Instagram and that's really what I'm gonna focus on because that's where my knowledge base is on how to use these. So you can take the same principles and apply 'em to the platform that works best for you, your business, and your target client. You always have to think about who is researching information on social media, who's looking at it. If that's your target client, that's the platform you need to use. So use that as your filter. These are the two that we're gonna talk about today, but the ideas are the same no matter which platform you choose. So Facebook is a broad platform with wide uses. You have a couple of different options on how you set up your Facebook page. You can set it up as a profile or you can set it up as a business page and there are advantages to both. So we've done both, but we prefer to use a profile page for us for now. As our business grows, it may exceed the number of subscribers that we can manage on there. There's a cap of how many friends you can have on there. The business page doesn't have that, so eventually we'll have to shift to this, but for now the profile page is working great for us because we can tag people specifically, our friends. So you can choose which platform you want. If you have a business page, you can also tie it back to your personal profile, so there are some connections here that you can use. You just need to decide what's best for you right now and your business. If you're just a sole proprietor, a small, single person business, a profile can work for now, or your may want to expand to a business page. Also, the difference, you can set it up as a local business or you can set it up as company page. The difference is a local business is gonna target your local community. This is more of a national base, so when you're placing ads, this can make a difference, okay? If you have a location, it's good to be a local business. Alright, so what do you need to think about as you set up your business page, whether it's part of your profile or if it's an official business page. You need to have an about section where you share your goal. Remember that 140 character description? This is where you can share that for your business, so in the marketing plan that we talked about earlier when you wrote that description of who you are, the essence of your business, that's gonna go in the about section of Facebook. Your profile picture needs to represent your business persona. So the profile picture is the little square on the banner. It could be you if you are a huge part of your business. It could be a camera to represent photography. It could represent the type of photography that you create. The profile picture needs to say something very specific about your business. Then, you need to have your contact info and a more expanded description of what you do. So the about is the 140 character, the short description. This is gonna be a more expanded description and it needs to have a way for your network to reach out to you and do something to take action, okay? Then you can have the big banner image, the cover photo across the top that also needs to be something that's very striking and it needs to be authentic to your business, the kind of work that you want to create. See how all these pieces just keep coming back together again and again. That authenticity, that message of who you are, the message of what you want to be creating, when all of that's consistent, your buyer will feel harmony and feel comfortable in investing in you. So you can also have a call to action on a business page on Facebook and some of those calls to action can include a contact us. So this is back to that make it easy to do what your client wants you to do. So think about your purpose. As you're posting on social media, what is your message? What is your story and what do you want it to prompt your client to do? So if it's just to get to know you, then it's just gonna have a learn more. If this is just the handshake, this is here, this is what we're doing, where can I find out more information about these guys, learn more and link to your website, okay? Then you have a more firm handshake, okay? If you want that to, if you're posting, I have a special on a session and I need you to call me now because I only have three left, then you need to have either a contact us or a book now. These are the call to actions that you can include. Or, if you have a gallery of images and you just released a new fine art piece and you wanna direct them to your shopping cart because you have a special, limited edition thing, then you can link them directly to your shopping cart online and purchase an image there. So we always are driving back to the purpose, what do I want my client to see, feel, and do? This is the essence of everything that you do in your business including your social media. So what is it that I want to accomplish with my clients? So what kind of content is best for social media? Specifically Facebook? There's all kinds of things that you can generate on there, some of it can be curated content. Have you guys been scrolling through your Facebook feeds and you see somebody share an article that they really liked? As long as that content that you're sharing aligns with your business persona, that can be a great way to kind of increase the amount of content that you're putting out there without having to create it yourself. So you can curate content from other sources where you share links as long as your network will find it interesting. It has to be relevant to what you do and it has to be interesting. By cross promoting, you can help grow your audience and what this means is that you can share an article, make sure that the person that you shared it from knows that you shared it and maybe they wanna share something that you've written. So if you can build relationships with online voices that are out there, you can share their things, they can share your things, and you both benefit in the process. You probably aren't gonna share other photographers' things, but what if there is a local business in your area that is doing something complimentary to what you're doing so what if there's a local boutique in your area that has a Facebook page that is having a sale on children's clothes and you happen to specialize in photographing children, that would be something you could blast out to your audience because it would help them, right? And then when you have something interesting going on in your studio, they can blast it out on their Facebook page. You guys are helping each other build a community. Hopefully, that will turn into followers in both directions so that you're sharing your audience with each other. It's just like the marketing that we talked about earlier where you work together for a common goal, okay? So sharing links of content that your followers find interesting, cross promoting with comparable complimentary businesses is huge. Always be sure to tag the source so that they know that you're sharing. Sometimes they share back things. It can make a really big difference in how this thing grows across social media platforms. So what kind of things do you wanna put out there? It's designed for images, video, text, and links. These are kind of your options for the type of content that you want to develop. So I always kinda run it through a filter for my buyers. My target audience is always my goal. That's who I want on my social media platforms for my business. And so the filters that you run everything through is, is it concise and valuable? Because we have a very limited attention span on social media. We flip, we flip, we flip, we flip, oh, there's something interesting. If it doesn't load right away, I'm gone, right? How many times have you sat there and watched it for a long time? So it has to be super concise and it has to be relevant to things that I'm interested in, so the same thing is true for your target audience when you're thinking about images, when you're thinking about sharing information, make sure it's something that they're gonna find valuable. It's not about you on social media, it's about your target audience. Is it even worth sharing? In light of recent events that have been happening in our country, there is all kinds of crazy things that probably shouldn't be posted on social media. Make sure that on your business page you are keeping a neutral persona that shares your brand but not necessarily your opinions about politics, or life, or things like that unless it's relevant to your brand, okay? So if you have an environmentally focused network, you might want to share relevant environmental issues, okay? But do it very carefully. Make sure it's worth sharing. And, what you're sharing, how can you use that to generate comments because the way it works is the more comments you have, the more shares you have, the more people have the opportunity to see that post. If it's a post and nobody likes it and nobody shares it and nobody comments on it, a very small amount of your followers are actually going to see it. So if you can ask a question that generates a response, then more people in your network are going to see it. So as you're posting something, instead of saying here, look at this, you can say, what is your opinion of this? Or, ask another prompt that indicates that you want an answer in the comments section and if you look at your social feed as a conversation with your target audience and you ask them to engage, then more of your audience will actually see your post, okay? Have you guys thought about that before? Yeah, it's a different way to think about it. Instead of hey, here, look at me, oh my gosh, what do you guys think about this? Different feel, right? I care about you, my target audience, I care about what you think and I wanna hear from you. It's a very different feel on social media. So, is it worth sharing? Will it generate comments?

Class Description

When starting a new business, you will make hundreds of decisions, and many of those can be costly and affect the future of your business. Most photographers have little direction available on how to take these critical first steps to set themselves up for success.

Kathy Holcombe and her husband Peter have built multiple photography businesses over the last 15 years. Kathy will share what they have learned so that you won’t waste time, money and resources trying to find the perfect formula.

You will learn how to:

Define your brand

Set up social media channels and a business website to support the vision of your brand

Develop an effective strategy for marketing to your ideal client

Develop a product line and profitable pricing structure

Develop a sales strategy to maximize your time and sales average

This class is for anyone who is standing at a crossroads, wanting to start a photography business, but not sure exactly how to go about it. You’ll not only learn how to get you started but also how to turn a profit through your photography in your very first year of business. Skip years of trial and error and invest your precious startup dollars in strategies, tools, and equipment that will immediately start making you money.

Amanda Beck

Kathy was a wonderful instructor. She was engaging and someone who was precise and incredibly helpful. We have a full time photography business and are always looking for new ways of running our business. Her information was insightful and forced us to have conversations about our business that we have haven't had in several years. She is fantastic and someone who has the information needed to help you start or expand your business. Thank you for a wonderful class!!

Chrissie

Thank you Kathy for yet again another very thought provoking class. You are such an inspiration, teaching us the right questions to ask ourselves so we too can be brilliant photographers / entrepreneurs. I was a fulltime RVer for seven years, traversing 44 states and seeing some of the most beautiful places on our planet. It gave me a great opportunity to meet some extraordinary people and to hone my photography skills. Now I have put down roots in Stapleton - Denver, CO and am soon to launch my own Family Lifestyle Photography business. Your course has definitely given me the courage to just charge ahead and go for it!

Tristanne Endrina

I am VERY impressed with this class! The structure of the class is well done. Each segment was thorough and backed up some knowledge from the previous segments. Kathy breaks everything down into understandable knowledge and also makes it very enjoyable to watch. I HIGHLY recommend this class if you're unsure about what to do to start your photography business. $3000 may sound like a lot of money, but you'll going to find yourself in a determined state to raise that money if you're REALLY passionate and serious about starting your photography business.
Thank you, Kathy & Creativelive, for this class. I'm excited to get the ball rolling and build my photography business.